£92.5k plus discretionary bonus
Linklaters has slightly increased the salaries for its newly qualified (NQ) solicitors having cut them by 10% in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
The magic circle firm confirmed NQ pay now sits at £92,500 per annum, plus a discretionary performance bonus, which is up from the £90,000 approved last year. The pay increase is effective from May 2021.
In the summer of last year, Links tightened the belt on London NQ salaries, mirroring the approach taken by several other City outfits. NQs at Links saw their pay packets drop from a minimum of £100,000, comprised of salary and bonus, to £90,000.
Links isn’t the first major law firm to bump salaries after making cuts in response to the pandemic.
Slaughter and May upped total NQ pay earlier this year from £87,000 to £90,500 — a sum which falls short of the firm’s pre-Covid package of £92,000. Clifford Chance restored junior lawyer packages to £100,000 after reducing total remuneration to £94,500, while Allen & Overy bumped NQ pay to £95,000, made up of salary and sign-on bonus, following an earlier decision to reduce this to £90,000. The remaining member of the magic circle, Freshfields, decided not to cut NQ pay.